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Uwiran STATES P TENT Unmet.

CLINTON B. HERRIOK, OF TROY, NEWV YORK.

THlLL-TUG.

'IEPECIPIC'ATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 309,853, dated December 30, 185.

Application filed October 4. 1884.

To (all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, CLINTON B. HERRIOK, of the city of Troy, county of Rensselaer, State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in \Vagon Thill-Tugs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to thill-tugs--a class of devices that are attached to harness to receive 7 the thills or the shafts of a vehicle; and my invention consists, as will be more fully detailed hereinafter in connection with its illustration, in the combination of a buckle that at its upper end is adapted to buckle to the harness, said buckle having an eye at its lower end and provided with a cross-bar between the eye and buckle proper for the hinging attachment of the tug-loop, and a tug-loop that at one end is provided with a hook,with said hook adapted to hook into the eye on the downwardly-extended end of the buckle, the object of my invention being the improved makeup of the device as regards durability, and the improved construction and arrangements of its parts by which the thill or shaft of the vehicle may be passed into the tug-loop through the side ofthe latter and without the necessity of passing the tug-loop on over the end of the thill or shaft of the vehicle.

Accompanying this specification, to form a part of it,there is a plate of drawings containing three figures illustrating my invention, with the same designation of its parts by letter reference used in all of them.

Of these illnstrations,Figure 1 shows a perspective of my improved thill-tug with the loop of the tug hooked into the eye on the buckle-extension. Fig. 2 is a perspective of the same device with the thill-tug open and unhooked for the side passage of the thill or shaft, and Fig. 3 shows alongitudinal vertical section taken centrally through the device on the line 00 w of Fig. 1.

The several parts of the device are designated by letter reference, and the function of the parts is described as follows:

The letter L indicates the loop of the tug, that is interiorly made from a strip of elastic sheet metal, M, and which is provided with a leather covering, 0.

The letter H designates ahook made on one end of the metal strip forming the interior of the tug-loop.

The letter B designates a buckle having a downwardly-extended end, b, which is provided with an eye, E, and a cross-bar, B, the latter being shown as arranged in the buckleextension between the buckle proper and said eye E. rounds the upper end of the metal loop L; passes around this cross-bar R, to connect the buckle and its extension with the tug-loop, and the letters V V indicate rivets that connect the said strip M and its covering 0. Where the hook H is formed on the end of the metal loopstrip M, the leather covering of the latter is omitted.

The letter D indicates a ring on the bottom of the loop, for the girth-strap.

While I have shown the connection made with the bar R of the buckle and the tug-loop as produced by the leather covering of the metal strip M, if desired, the latter may be bent so as to hinge around said bar, and with the leather covering carried above and over said hinging connection made in the metal strip; or the leather covering may be omitted above the rivet V when the metal strip is hinged into said bar B.

When it is desired to attach the tugs to the thills or shafts, theloop is unhooked with the parts appearing as shown at Fig. 2, the thill or shaft being passed in at the open side of the loop. When the shaft is within the loop, the hook H is hooked into the eye E with the parts in the position as shown at Fig. 1. A thill-tug being thus made is durable in construction, and it allows the connection With the thills or shafts of the vehicle to be made without backing up and then drawing forward the latter to enter the thills or shafts within the thill-tugs, which is a very difficult opera tion where the animal being harnessed is restive, and it also avoids the contingency of the breaking of the thills from their being stepped on by the" animal when being harnessed.

Having-thus described my invention, what I claim, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a thill-tug,the combination of a buckle made with a downwardly-extended eye, and a cross-bar between the latter and the buckle proper, and a tug-loop of elastic sheet metal having a leather covering which is attached The leather covering 0, which sur- I at one end to the buckle crossbar, and at its I erate substantially in the manner as and for other end made with a. hook eonstructedto hook into the eye of the downwardly-extended end of the buckle, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In a thill-tug, the combination of the loop L, made with the interior elastic sheet-metal strip, M, the exterior leathercweringfi, and the hook H, and the buckle B, made with the eye E and cross-bar R, the said parts being constructed and arranged to connect and opthe purposes set forth.

Signed at Troy, New York, this 26th day of September, 1884, and in the presence of the 15 two Witnesses whose names are hereto Written.

CLINTON B. HERRICK.

\Vi tnesses: STANLEY M. HOLDEN, CHARLES S. BRINTNALL. 

